_2nd._--Occupied in making rafts. The rain last night produced a flood: the river rose about five feet, not many inches below the tent, and is in a capital condition for a start; but making the rafts has occupied more time than I expected, and we cannot set out to-night. The Orang Kaya Upit has not made his appearance: I only regret the rice we left at Si Lopong’s--he may come to-night; but I have never expected him to follow so soon. It has been showery all the afternoon, and I fear a wet night. We have made four rafts: old Japer commands one with three men, Minudin with three more, Lamit and three, then Musa, with three Malays, a boy, Ahtan, and myself. Ours is a very strong raft of bamboo; the others appear but very shaky affairs, the men being too lazy to work well at them. _5th._--Started early; at first all went smoothly enough. The river was sufficiently deep, though it had fallen. We began to congratulate ourselves on the charming sensation of gliding down the stream, with only the occasional trouble of pushing the raft from the bank. The first notice we had that all was not to be smooth water was seeing in a long reach a rock in the centre, with a dashing, breaking fall on either side; and on this rock was one of our men standing, the very picture of despair. Three rafts had passed, and his only chance was to jump on to ours. We came rushing towards him at a tremendous pace, trying to keep as near the rock as possible to give him a better chance, and in doing so, caught it, which threw the raft right across the stream: it rose to an angle of 45°, and we all thought it was going over, when the broad surface presented to the water raised it up, and it slipped past the rock. The man, after having assisted in moving it, stood still, and we had nearly passed him; I yelled at him, which brought him to a sense of his danger: he made a bold spring, and just succeeded in reaching the raft. Had he remained where he was, he must have sprung into the boiling surge, hoping that we could pick him up if he reached the smoother water. On arriving at the next difficult rapid, it was proposed to take out the baggage, and then pass the rafts down, as the first had already been buried in the water, and everything was wet through. This was tiresome work. It is always difficult to pack and unpack during the day’s journey; but after an hour’s hard work, we had passed all the things down to the bottom of the rapid, except a large tambok, or basket three feet high, made from the covering of the sago-palm stem. This the owner thought he would take with him on the raft; but just as he started, a wave struck it, and it rolled into the water, and went dancing down the stream: it was full of valuables of mine and the man’s clothing. The bold fellow sprang after, but too late to reach it before it sank; he, however, dived till he fished it up.